Covered Bridge Estates

Would you like another Food Truck Night on Mondays? Yes, No, Comments
Send to info@cbecai.com.

The Clubhouse will be closed for renovations during the month of September effective September 2, 2019 (Labor Day).  Access to the Management Office and the workout room will  need to be via the pool access (enter the pool area and then come into the inner rooms from the pool). We apologize for any inconvenience, but look forward to sharing a new, revitalized Clubhouse.

NOTE: The pool table room is currently being used to store a large shipment as of 8/16/19 and is temporarily unavailable until the supplies can be moved. We will let you know when it is available again before the renovation closing on 9/2/19.

The Communications Committee and volunteers from the Social Events Steering Group would like your input.  Please take the following survey and tell us what events you would like to see at Covered Bridge Estates.  Keep in mind that suggestions should consider these guidelines:

• Events cannot include alcoholic beverages or activities that could endanger attendees.
• Indicate the target audience for your event (adult activity, children activity, activity for couples, activity for all ages).
• Events should be expense-neutral if possible (meaning any costs could/should be borne by sponsors, donations, or per-person fees).
• Events must be approved by the Board of Directors prior to being generally promoted by the Association.

NOTE: The survey is VERY short, but you will have to scroll down a little bit at the end, then press, “DONE.”

Greetings to Covered Bridge Estates residents.  I hope your summer is going well and you are able to take advantage of time with family and friends.  I am still taken back by the wonderful feeling of community that Covered Bridge Estates has and how welcome you have made me feel during my first 60 days in the community. I am quite pleased and excited to be your Community Manager.

I am hopeful that I can provide you with monthly updates on what is happening in our community. This month’s updates are from my Manager’s Report submitted to the Board of Directors during the July meeting.

McGhee Electric has been scheduled to install two additional 15 ft light poles with 150w LED lights for the basketball court. This work should be completed in early August and will provide more light for our youth on the court. This work will also include a separate switch so that the tennis courts do not need to be lit when only basketball is being played. We will also be installing a new security camera at the basketball/tennis court gates to help us deter vandalism and costly repair of the gate mechanism. This work will also be completed sometime in August.

Four umbrellas for the pool have been ordered and are due the first week of August. This is the first phase of replacements of umbrellas and stands to help those who are feeling the heat of our summer at the pool. Speaking of the pool, there was much conversation regarding the “Closed” sign at the pool for swimmers that arrive prior to staff showing up in the morning. The “Closed” sign is put out at 9 pm by our pool monitors, but the pool is posted as being open at 5 am the following day (weather permitting). Swimmers arriving at 5am are welcome to enter and use the pool and may either turn the sign to “Open” or just go in and swim.

At the July Board meeting, the Board of Directors voted to approve the renovation of the Clubhouse.  This renovation project will include replacing all flooring (except in the exercise room, Office, and bathrooms), replace the existing counter in the Great Room, repaint the rooms and refurnish the Great Room. This work will begin on September 3 and will render the Clubhouse unavailable for the month of September. I am hoping that the exercise room and Office will still be accessible (as well as the bathrooms) during this time and the pool shall remain open as well.

I appreciate those of you that give of your time and talents on a regular basis to make our community better; whether it be volunteers that pick up trash when they see it or those that volunteer for various committees. We recently had two UV air purification light units donated by an owner who is an air conditioner contractor. He installed these in the A/C unit for the exercise room and in our management office to help with pollutants in the air.  Thank you so much for your kindness!

One of the least favorite duties as your Community Manager is issuing violations. However, adhering to the Community rules is a responsibility we all share and so my staff and I are responsible for enforcing these rules. In the month of June, we had 85 violations for length of grass, tree trimming, or other such infractions dealing with outside home appearance.  We have held off inspections for algae and house painting due to the extensive rainy season but will resume these inspections after the hurricane season is over.  My goal is to work with each of you to educate the Community on issues that could lead to a violation.  We look to the Declaration of Covenants and Conditions – Section XIII, Article 7 as one source for our compliance test: “It shall be the responsibility of each Owner to prevent the development of any unclean, unhealthy, unsightly, or unkempt condition on his or her Unit. ” We are also concerned about pedestrian safety on our sidewalks and will be watching for situations that violate the resolution passed in November 2018 to keep sidewalks and roadways clear of low-hanging branches and grass encroaching on the sidewalks (view the resolution here).  Let’s work together to ensure our homes are trimmed and tree branches that abut the sidewalks and roads allow for 8′ clearance per the recent resolution.

I am excited to be your Community Manager and I look forward to sharing more with you in the months ahead. As always, if you have questions or concerns please call me or stop in and visit.

We wanted to give you an update on the recent vehicle burglary event we previously posted on our website. The sheriff’s department has informed us that two juveniles have been arrested in connection with this crime. Thanks to the participation of our vigilant neighbors, we were able to pin down the time frame of the events and utilize the CBE security camera system to track the movement of two individuals across our community and obtain images and videos which will be instrumental in the case against the alleged perpetrators. We also want to reiterate the message we often hear from law enforcement that it is vitally important that we lock our car doors at night as this crime and others like it are often crimes of opportunity. We offer many thanks to the Sheriff’s detectives who worked on this case over the last few weeks, and also thank the staff in the CBE office who worked with detectives scouring hours of security footage to help identify these individuals.

Many of you have stopped in to the clubhouse and have introduced yourselves to our new Manager, Pat Naldrett-Bilodeau. Pat has eased gracefully into her role and both Board and resident feedback has been overwhelmingly good. The Board is confident that our community management is in good and capable hands.

Pat is YOUR community manager, and, as such, we wanted to ensure that residents have access to Pat for all community interaction.  A comment we have heard more than once is that the Community Manager is “only available during business hours.” While Pat can be reached during the work day in the office or by calling 941-479-4903, she is also willing to schedule after-hour time for those residents who desire a face-to-face meeting and cannot make it in until after work.

Pat would also like to let you know that she is a registered Notary Public and is available free of charge to notarize a limited number of items for our residents. Please call ahead and be respectful of her time.

Please feel free to reach out to Pat with any comments or questions, or use our online suggestion form (in the Residents Only section of our website) for any suggestions for the betterment of our community. These suggestions are typically read at the monthly Board meetings if they contain actionable items the Board should consider.

Finally, a note on ‘proper channels’ for the changes you’d like to see in our community. Covered Bridge Estates Community Association Incorporated is a legal entity overseen by a Board of Directors. The Board follows statute-mandated direction on communication protocols. A member of the Association has every right to have his/her voice heard, recognized by the Board, and available to all other members for comment. However, the Board has a legal, mandated obligation to provide a forum for this interaction, so that ALL MEMBERS have the same access to any point of contention or potential change. The legally recognized forum is a Board meeting. In fact, per statute, the Board is PROHIBITED from meeting outside of regular membership (public) Board meetings to discuss the business of the Association (except in Executive sessions where there are discussions of legal or personnel matters). Online social media is not a legally recognized platform for Board interaction, therefore the Board can not engage members in an official capacity on those forums. This Board is an active, robust Board, dedicated to the service of the community. We hope that all members of the Association are comfortable coming to our meetings to have their voices heard, and we are eager to hear from you.

Sincerely,

CBE Board of Directors

Charlie Lane, President
Don Samuelson, Vice-President
Don Hedman, Treasurer
Nathan Chambers, Secretary
Tim Polk, Director

Food Truck Thursday at Covered Bridge Estates is an opportunity for residents to take the night off from cooking and swing by the Clubhouse for some good food provided by local food trucks.  The goal is to provide at least one truck each Thursday (holidays excluded) from 4-8pm.

The following is our current schedule of food trucks which is subject to change, so please check this post regularly.  The Facebook or website link included can help you learn more about each food truck and, in many cases, provide you with their menu.

Pack a picnic and enjoy the new tables on the lawn at the Clubhouse.  The Board of Directors voted to purchase these two new tables to provide a gathering spot on Food Truck Thursdays and also for general use by our residents throughout the week. Enjoy!

We are now in the midst of hurricane season and Hurricane Irma should remind us that we should always be prepared.  Manatee County has published an excellent, comprehensive Disaster Planning Guide and we are making this available to each home at Covered Bridge Estates.  Copies of this publication are available at the Clubhouse and will also be distributed in the parking lot on Food Truck Thursday.  Please grab your copy of this excellent publication.

A defibrillator (AED) has been installed inside the Fitness Center at the Clubhouse. For those who don’t know, a defibrillator is a device that is used to shock a person’s heart back into a proper rhythm if they have gone into cardiac arrest.  

A “Break Glass in Emergency” key box with a key fob inside has been mounted to the right of the Fitness Center door that leads to the pool area. There is a bag attached with accessories: gloves, a CPR pocket mask and a surgical razor.

The AED is designed to be used by the general public with a minimum of training. In a nutshell, you open it up, turn it on and do what it tells you to do (yes, it talks!). Instructions for use are in a pouch inside of the unit. Please report any signs of tampering of either the key box or the AED to the office staff.

The Clubhouse staff will be trained in CPR and the use of the AED on May 28, 2019. After the staff is trained, classes in CPR/AED will be offered to anyone in the community that is interested.

We hope we never have to use it, but if there is ever a need, it is there!